Content about New Jersey

FAIRFIELD, N.J. — An outstanding business program, a resort area with much to see and do, and near-perfect weather combined to make the Textile Care Allied Trades Association (TCATA) Annual Conference in Park City, Utah, in August one of the group's best ever, the association says.

Jade West of the National Association of Wholesaler Distributors provided attendees with an overview of federal legislation and regulation having a significant impact on businesses that has passed or may be passed.

Best-selling author Joachim de Posada discussed the “marshmallow principle” of delayed gratification, the subject of a famous 1970s experiment. He explained how businesses might apply the principle to be more successful.

Economist Alan Beaulieu explained to attendees how they could make adjustments in their business planning to prosper in anticipated, predictable economic cycles.

At the closing dinner, several members were recognized for achieving milestone anniversaries. Foster-Stephens of Elk Grove Village, Ill., became only the fifth company to celebrate 75 years of association membership.

A special surprise was the presentation to Foster-Stephens President Nancy Jones of the original membership application made by Elmer Jones, the company’s founder and Nancy’s grandfather, submitted shortly after Foster-Stephens was founded in 1936.

Also recognized were 50-year member Laundrylux and 25-year members Fuller Supply, Gurtler Industries and United Brass Works. Milton and Gail Magnus of M&B Hangers were recognized for their support of the Annual Conference, an event they haven’t missed in 35 years.

Bryant Dunivan, vice president of sales and marketing for Energenics, was elected TCATA president-elect. He will serve a two-year term. Joining Dunivan on the board will be Roger Komins, Package Supply, elected treasurer-elect.

Elected vice presidents were David Tingue of Tingue, Brown & Co., representing the Supply Manufacturers Group, and D’Arcy McConvey of Dalex Canada, representing the Distributors Group.

GREEN BROOK, N.J. — Commercial laundry supplier SEBCO Laundry Systems, which started with one man and a few pieces of laundry equipment, is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. Originally operating from a single location in The Bronx, N.Y., the company now provides Maytag® Commercial Laundry equipment to apartments, condos, co-ops, military installations, and college and university laundries in nine states along the East Coast.

BENTON HARBOR, Mich. — Maytag Commercial Laundry recently honored its exceptional distributors, including top award-winner Equipment Marketers, during the company’s 52nd Annual Meeting in Orlando, Fla.

KEARNY, N.J. — Lou Kobus, field representative and ambassador at large for A.L. Wilson Chemical Co., has died at the age of 81, the company reports.

Kobus spent his career working in the laundry and drycleaning industry, first as an owner/operator in Lansing, Mich., and then briefly as a technician for an industrial laundry manufacturer. He worked for A.L. Wilson for the last 28 years.

HALEDON, N.J. — Three men were sentenced in state court Tuesday for their roles in a scheme in which New York-Presbyterian Hospital laundry managers received bribes in exchange for steering business to a laundry supply company over a five-year period, according to Paul Di Lella, Passaic County, N.J., senior assistant prosecutor.

Michael Strauss, owner of Chempac Distributors, was sentenced to 364 days in the Passaic County Jail and five years of probation, and ordered to pay $100,000 in restitution to the hospital in monthly installments.

HALEDON, N.J. — Three men await sentencing for their roles in a scheme in which New York-Presbyterian Hospital laundry managers received bribes from the owner of a laundry supply company in exchange for steering business to his firm, according to Paul Di Lella, Passaic County, N.J., senior assistant prosecutor.

“My budget has been cut, and I’ve got to find ways to keep my costs down. Can you suggest operational changes I can make to cut or at least control costs without having to purchase anything or cause a major upheaval in my laundry?”

Consulting: Tom Mara, Victor Kramer Co., Oceanport, N.J.

SADDLE BROOK, N.J. — Tingue, Brown & Co. has launched a new division, Tingue, Brown & Co. (Asia) Ltd., to serve the Asian market.

The new division was established to capitalize on the development of the hospitality and healthcare sectors in China and the Pacific Rim, as well as the corresponding growth of the commercial laundry industry servicing the large number of new hospitals, hotels, casinos, restaurants and other facilities in the region, Tingue, Brown says.

FAIRFIELD, N.J. — The Textile Care Allied Trades Association (TCATA) is joining in an effort led by the Coalition for Affordable American Energy (CAAE) to call for Congress to stay in Washington until it votes on legislation that opens off-shore drilling, enables oil-shale conversion and aids other supply-enhancing measures.

NEWARK, N.J. — The deaths of two Linden laundry workers, overcome by chemical fumes last month while cleaning a tank, yesterday brought a congressional subcommittee to that city to hear calls for empowering workers to help police workplace safety — and imposing tougher sanctions on employers who endanger the lives of their workers.

SADDLE BROOK, N.J. — The board of directors for Tingue, Brown & Co. has named David M. Tingue president and chief executive officer. His father, William J. Tingue, who became president in September 1986 and had been CEO since July 1992, made the announcement.

William Tingue retired to the position of nonexecutive chairman upon David Tingue assuming the corporate reins.